UT's Austin Peay building: home to Andy Holt before Andy Holt Tower

Iconic Ayres Hall with its eye-catching tower might be the center of attention among University of Tennessee buildings on the Hill, but at one time the Austin Peay Building was the campus’ center of operation.

From when it opened in 1935 until the completion of Andy Holt Tower in 1973 a couple hundred yards southwest, the Austin Peay Building served as the offices of the president and other key administrators. And that included the popular and praised Holt, who worked all 11 of his years as president inside the building.

The structure is now dedicated to the study of the mind as the location of the UT Psychology Department, and it also draws on the emotional through its ornate architectural detail. That is, despite the fact that the building is often easy to overlook in the shadow of Ayres and because it is partially hidden behind several trees and large shrubs and bushes.

A close inspection reveals several highly crafted arches and bay windows from the early 20th century, as well as eye-catching inscriptions – including the UT seal – in the pre-cast stone ornamentation. Inside the lobby entrance area, the walls are lined with Crab Orchard stone.

Perhaps easily forgotten

As the Shopper News continues its look this summer at historic buildings near downtown Knoxville, a glance at the Austin Peay building shows a structure that might easily be forgotten among historic UT buildings.

Even an online search of the building calls up mostly references to the college in Clarksville, Tenn., that was also named after former Gov. Austin Peay, who in 1927 became the only Tennessee governor to die in office.

While the college that became Austin Peay State University was named in his honor before his death at age 51 from a cerebral hemorrhage after suffering from heart ailments, the building at UT was named in his memory.

He had used a tobacco tax to help fund some capital building projects around the Hill at UT. Other buildings funded through the expenditure and opened not long before the Austin Peay Building were Hoskins Library, Alumni Memorial Gymnasium, Dabney Hall, what are now the Hesler and Nielsen buildings, and possibly others.

The Austin Peay Building was designed by noted Knoxville architect Charles Barber of what is now BarberMcMurry and was built where the Carnegie Library had stood since 1911.

The opening of Hoskins had allowed the Carnegie site to be used for the new administration offices. The president had formerly been housed in South College, and officials thought all the administrators would be closer to the students in Peay.

A look at an old photograph of the different-looking Carnegie Library or a glance at the UT archives collection in Hodges Library did not reveal if any of the old library structure was retained when the Peay building was constructed.

An old Knoxville Journal article written at the time the building opened described it as being of high craftsmanship and said that it was constructed after a UT study of a number of other high quality college buildings elsewhere.

The Austin Peay Memorial Administration Building – as is still inscribed above the front entrance – was dedicated on Oct. 19, 1935, shortly before the homecoming game against rival Alabama.

Chattanooga News publisher George Fort Milton, who was also a historical author, spoke at the dedication, while Gov. Hill McAlister also attended. Trustee Paul Kruesi, also from Chattanooga, had overseen the building committee.

It was a festive and fun day – except for the game. The Vols, with coach Robert Neyland off on military duty, lost 25-0 to the Crimson Tide, which featured a senior end named Paul “Bear” Bryant.

Among the UT presidents whose offices were in the Peay building were Charles D. Hoskins, C.E. Brehm, Holt and Dr. Edward Boling. The board of trustees also met there.

Toward the end of Holt’s tenure from 1959-70, the president became the top administrator of the entire UT system, and a chancellor started overseeing the UT campus.

Retired UT English literature professor Dr. Allison Ensor remembered that the Peay building was an important hub of campus life in the decades after World War II.

“All of the top administrators, the president, etc., had their offices there,” he said. “I was in the building various times in the 1950s and 1960s.”

He also believes there might have been some protests in front of the building during the Vietnam War era, when students at many colleges were asserting their First Amendment rights.

Soon after, the top administration offices moved to the more out-of-the-way upper floors in Andy Holt Tower.

But the old Austin Peay Building, which had a section on the back added in the early 1950s, still remains a central part of the UT story historically and architecturally.